Bringing Light to the Indian Addition
Residents of the Indian Addition organize to demand electric streetlights from the local utility company.
A move to secure electric lights was made at the meeting of the Indian Addition Improvement club last night. It was stated that the Tacoma Railway and Power company would extend its lines if it could be guaranteed that 50 residents of that district would put in electric lights. A committee consisting of I. A. Peterson, P. Schiller and L. H. Guno was appointed to investigate the matter. The questions of water supply, road improvements and a new bridge for the addition were also discussed, but final action was delayed until the next meeting. The club now has about 50 members.
“It was stated that the Tacoma Railway and Power company would extend its lines if it could be guaranteed that 50 residents of that district would put in electric lights.”
This reflects the grassroots neighborhood advocacy that built Tacoma’s infrastructure street by street. Residents organizing as a bloc to force utilities to serve residential neighborhoods is a classic pattern of the era's urban growth.
From readers
No comments yet. If you know something about this story — a correction, a family memory, a source — it belongs here.